Nixon appoints longtime aide as interim auditor to replace Schweich
Saturday, February 28, 2015 From Columbia Daily Tribune
Gov. Jay Nixon installed trusted longtime aide John Watson as state auditor Friday to replace the late Tom Schweich, saying Watson would hold the position “until a permanent appointment is made.”
Nixon, a Democrat, said he acted quickly Thursday after Schweich’s death, which police are calling an apparent suicide, to prevent disruption in the work of the auditor’s office.
“I know that John Watson will perform these duties with the professionalism, integrity and independence the citizens of Missouri expect and deserve, and I am pleased that he has agreed to serve while I move thoroughly and expeditiously to select a permanent replacement,” Nixon said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.
Watson was Nixon’s chief of staff from 1997 to December 2014, while Nixon served as both attorney general and governor, and currently holds a job as senior adviser to Nixon.
Under Missouri law, Nixon is directed to “immediately” appoint a replacement when the office of state auditor becomes vacant. The appointee holds the office until the term expires in 2019.
In the news release announcing the appointment, Nixon said Watson agreed to resign the office when Nixon makes his permanent selection.
Schweich, a Republican, was re-elected in November with no Democratic opponent. He was riding the strength of that victory into the 2016 gubernatorial primary against former U.S. Attorney and Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway when he died of a single gunshot wound at his home in St. Louis County.
With Watson as auditor, Democrats will hold five of six statewide offices, leaving Lt. Gov. Peter
Kinder as the only GOP officeholder. Kinder has announced he intends to seek a fourth term in 2016.
“I have tremendous respect for the State Auditor’s Office, and I will carry out these duties in service to the people of Missouri,” Watson said in the prepared statement. “I continue to keep Tom Schweich’s family and friends in my thoughts and prayers, and join them in mourning this loss.”
Nixon earlier in the day canceled a trade trip to Cuba because of Schweich’s death.
A memorial service for Schweich is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Church of St. Michael and St. George in St. Louis County, spokesman Spence Jackson told the Associated Press.
Most candidates seeking statewide office in 2016 have suspended their campaigns until after Schweich’s funeral.
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